Shadow castle

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Shadow castle
Shadow castle

Shadow castle

Creation time : around 1200
Castle type : Hilltop castle
Conservation status: Received or received substantial parts
Standing position : Count
Place: Feldkirch
Geographical location 47 ° 14 '11.2 "  N , 9 ° 35' 57.6"  E Coordinates: 47 ° 14 '11.2 "  N , 9 ° 35' 57.6"  E
Height: 487  m above sea level A.
Schattenburg (Vorarlberg)
Shadow castle

The Schattenburg is a hilltop castle above the town of Feldkirch in Vorarlberg in Austria and is connected to it by the former city ​​wall . The high medieval castle is one of the best preserved castle complexes in Central Europe.

As is widely assumed, the name Schattenburg goes back to the fortifications of the castle (schaten = protection). The castle has one of the most important historical weapon collections in Austria.

history

Coat of arms of the Counts of Montfort

The castle was built around 1200 by Count Hugo (III. Von Tübingen , I von Montfort , † 1228), the founder of the city of Feldkirch. In the 14th century, the castle increasingly became the center of rule from the county of (Montfort-) Feldkirch and thus the successor castle to Alt-Montfort . It was the ancestral seat of the Counts of Montfort until 1390. After two sieges, the castle remained undefeated until the Appenzell War . Emperor Ludwig the Bavarian undertook one of the unsuccessful sieges in 1345 .

In 1375 Burgrave Rudolf IV of Montfort sold the Feldkirch rulership, administered from the Schattenburg, to Duke Leopold III. from the House of Habsburg . After the death of Rudolf IV of Montfort, the Habsburg bailiffs appointed the county administrators.

Under Vogt Count Friedrich VII of Toggenburg, the allied Swiss and Feldkirchers besieged the castle in the Appenzell War after the Battle of Stoss in autumn 1405. They succeeded in setting up heavy catapults (Bliden) on the Stadtschrofen above the facility. After 18 weeks of siege and continuous bombardment, Heinrich Walter von Ramschwag , who defended the Schattenburg with 38 men, had to capitulate on January 29, 1406. The castle was then burned down. The reconstruction took place two years later. During the armed conflict between King Sigismunds and Duke Friedrich of Austria , the castle was partially destroyed again in 1415 and 1417.

In 1417 Count Friedrich VII of Toggenburg received the Schattenburg as a pledge from King Sigismund. Frederick VII of Toggenburg had extensive extensions made to the castle for his feudal court. Under his administration, the three wing structures were built, which shape the structural shape of the castle to this day.

View of Feldkirch with the Schattenburg in the foreground, depiction by Matthäus Merian (1643)

With the death of Frederick VII of Toggenburg in 1436, the Schattenburg returned to the administration of the House of Habsburg. Further extensions and redesigns were carried out under Vogt Hans von Königsegg in the 15th century. Further additions were made in the 17th century.

In 1647, at the end of the Thirty Years' War , Swedish troops occupied the city of Feldkirch and the Schattenburg without a fight. The planned demolition of the castle and the pillage of the city could only be prevented by paying a high war contribution . At the same time, the city of Feldkirch committed itself to preserving the Schattenburg for the Swedish crown. With the end of the Thirty Years War, the Schattenburg lost its military importance.

In 1773 the Bailiwick Office was relocated from the castle to the city of Feldkirch. This started the structural decline of the complex, although the bailiff's administrator Franz Philipp Gugger von Staudach lived at the castle until 1794. From 1778 to 1825 the castle was used as a prison - with 6 arrests and an interrogation room. The jailer lived in the castle at that time. At the same time, several unsuccessful demolition auctions took place in 1799, 1806 and 1812.

In 1825 the city of Feldkirch acquired the castle. It served the city as a barracks from 1831 to 1850 (an earlier use of the barracks took place in 1803 and 1816). In the second half of the 19th century, the castle took on the poor house , which existed here until 1914.

"Schattenburg" stamp from the "Austrian Architectural Monuments" series (1967)

The castle was saved and revived by the Museum and Heritage Protection Association for Feldkirch and the surrounding area , founded in 1912 . Since 1916/17, the Schattenburg has housed the Feldkirch local history museum , which is now the largest local history museum in the state of Vorarlberg.

Under the National Socialists in 1938 plans came up to convert the Schattenburg into a Nazi fortified castle , but these were not implemented. In the last days of the Second World War , the castle served as the seat of the combat commander of the Wehrmacht .

On November 17, 1953, the castle was returned to the city by the French occupation troops, and on June 7, 1965, the complex narrowly escaped a catastrophic fire.

In addition to the museum, the castle now also houses a restaurant. From the windows you have a very interesting view of Feldkirch's old town.

investment

The first construction phase began around 1200 under Hugo I von Montfort and included the 16 x 12 m and 21 m high keep as well as the palace , the residential building, moats and drawbridge , as well as the castle walls.

Also worth mentioning are frescoes from the 16th century inside the castle chapel .

For a few years now, wine has been grown again under the Schattenburg.

  • View from the castle moat to the shadow castle

  • Inner courtyard of the Schattenburg

  • Weapons collection in the keep

  • Gothic room

  • Back of the Schattenburg with vineyard

Others

literature

  • Alois Niederstätter : The Vorarlberg castles . Universitätsverlag Wagner, Innsbruck 2017, ISBN 978-3-7030-0953-2 , pp. 64–71.
  • Manfred A. Getzner: Castle and Cathedral of Feldkirch: New research on the history of the shadow castle and the Dompfarrkirche St. Nikolaus . Series of publications by the Rheticus Society, Vol. 50, Feldkirch 2009.
  • Feldkirch Heritage and Museum Association: Schattenburg Feldkirch . Schnell Art Guide 2624, Verlag Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 2006. ( digital copy )
  • Viktor Kleiner : On the history of Feldkirch Castle (Schattenburg) in the period from 1778-1825 . Volume 1 of publications by the Association for Christian Art and Science in Vorarlberg and Westallgäu, 1907.
  • Andreas Ulmer : Feldkirch-Schattenburg Castle: A historical overview. Series of articles in the Feldkircher Anzeiger 1916. ( digitized version )
  • Andreas Ulmer: Burg Alt-Montfort , Castle Neu-Montfort , Castle Feldkirch Schattenburg Castle Tosters - The castles and noble seats Vorarlberg and Liechtenstein. Vorarlberger Verlagsanstalt publishing house, Dornbirn 1928.
  • Dehio-Handbuch Vorarlberg (1983); ISBN 3-7031-0585-2 .

Web links

Commons : Schattenburg  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Vorarlberger Landesmuseumsverein 1857: Activity report of the Castle Committee 2004 , Bregenz, February 2005, p. 42 ff.
  2. ↑ http://eisenbahntunnel.at/inhalt/tunnelportale/10105.html#schattenburg-alt Former tunnel